On-site parking minimizes the impact of new development on existing neighborhoods. The protests from existing residents would be deafening if they thought a new townhouse development would mean two dozen more cars competing for street parking on a given block.

Chicagoans are invited to an open house and public hearing ... for the presentation of the Framework Plan for the Bloomingdale Trail and Park, Chicago’s first elevated, multi‐use linear park and bike trail.
The presentation and meeting will be held on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Yates Elementary School, located at 1839 N. Richmond St. in Chicago. ...

The new PDF schematic on this page shows just how much of the Midtown Athletic Club's buildings will have to be chopped off for Elston. I wonder if they have worked out how much time that property transfer is going to take or if it will be a litigation wildcard.

Damen-Elston-Fullerton intersection improvement
...
UPDATE February 2012: Based on feedback received at, and subsequent to, the April 2011 public hearing, CDOT will propose changes ...
1. ... separating the bike lanes on rerouted Elston from traffic with a 2' wide curb barrier ...
2. ... along Damen Avenue north of Fullerton Avenue ... widen the right-of-way in order to accommodate both 5 lanes of traffic and 5' striped bike lanes ...
3. ... south of Fullerton along Damen will be widened ...

The new PDF schematic on this page shows just how much of the Midtown Athletic Club's buildings will have to be chopped off for Elston. I wonder if they have worked out how much time that property transfer is going to take or if it will be a litigation wildcard.

Damen-Elston-Fullerton intersection improvement
...
UPDATE February 2012: Based on feedback received at, and subsequent to, the April 2011 public hearing, CDOT will propose changes ...
1. ... separating the bike lanes on rerouted Elston from traffic with a 2' wide curb barrier ...
2. ... along Damen Avenue north of Fullerton Avenue ... widen the right-of-way in order to accommodate both 5 lanes of traffic and 5' striped bike lanes ...
3. ... south of Fullerton along Damen will be widened ...

Looks like the Whirlyball place is doomed lol.

Midtown Athletic Club doesn't exactly make the most efficient use of the current intersection from a spacial standpoint. If they get good compensation out of this, perhaps with some reconfiguration at a squared up intersection they can improve their facilities and add more courts.

Other than Midtown Athletic and the strip mall, the rest of the buildings are vacant and of little importance. All of the land next to 1880 plaza is potentially for sale. The mall could rebuild if retailers prefer to remain there and when a new building is complete, the old one comes down.

I don't think Midtown will be able to expand into the triangle plot of land where Elston used to be. The city is retaining that parcel because it has a large number of utilities beneath it and relocating the utilities to the new Elston alignment would add significant cost.

Hopefully the remnant plots can be landscaped with trees and benches to soften up what is a very harsh, unattractive area. Midtown might even reorient towards the intersection with a new front entrance.

On-site parking minimizes the impact of new development on existing neighborhoods. The protests from existing residents would be deafening if they thought a new townhouse development would mean two dozen more cars competing for street parking on a given block.

The bollards should be flexible and durable enough to handle any accidental impact by a plow. They are also easily replaceable if damaged.

The Elston cycle track won't have bollards like the Kinzie one. It has an honest-to-god curb separating it from the traffic lanes. It may have bollards on top to improve visibility, or they may paint the curb yellow or stripe it or something like the old Lower Wacker.

The Elston cycle track won't have bollards like the Kinzie one. It has an honest-to-god curb separating it from the traffic lanes. It may have bollards on top to improve visibility, or they may paint the curb yellow or stripe it or something like the old Lower Wacker.

Sweet! I should have read the plan in more detail.

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FYI, I was complaining about slow progress on the new Starbucks on Rush the other day. The next day after, they were working like crazy. Great to see work resuming. I also noticed concrete truck hoses pouring new floors in at the Esquire

I can't believe how much change has occurred at Oak and Rush over the past couple of years. This leaves the big empty lot at Walton and State as the next available space for a highrise development.

The Elston cycle track won't have bollards like the Kinzie one. It has an honest-to-god curb separating it from the traffic lanes. It may have bollards on top to improve visibility, or they may paint the curb yellow or stripe it or something like the old Lower Wacker.

I wish the Kinzie bike lane would have a curb separation. The bollards seem cheap and almost half committed. Washington street is another example of a bike lane that could be vastly improved. I wish from Desplains west they would get rid of all street parking on the south of the street and make that a bike only lane, make the current bike lane a raised separation with intermittent breaks for bus stops.

You know what would be awesome would be if there were some kind of raised, four or five foot wide pathways with curbs next to the roads that protected people from vehicles, that people might be able to ride their bikes on.

You know what would be awesome would be if there were some kind of raised, four or five foot wide pathways with curbs next to the roads that protected people from vehicles, that people might be able to ride their bikes on.

Are you seriously suggesting sidewalks be used as bike lanes?? That's the only conclusion I can make due to the eye rolling emoticon. If that is indeed the case you're trying to make, then I'm stunned that anyone would think that's a solution.

Whenever I'm walking on the sidewalk and I see someone riding their bike on it I am extremely tempted to knock them off their bike as they pass me. Only a fucking moron rides their bike on the sidewalk in the city.

Are you seriously suggesting sidewalks be used as bike lanes?? That's the only conclusion I can make due to the eye rolling emoticon. If that is indeed the case you're trying to make, then I'm stunned that anyone would think that's a solution.

I am, actually, yes. It's not like we're putting these stupid "protected" bike lanes in pedestrian heavy areas anyway. The 18th street bridge over the river. Kinzie over by the Merchandise Mart.

These are ludicrous wastes of money when there are barely-used sidewalks already there.

And yes, I ride my bike on the sidewalk all the time, and I always have. If I'm coming up on a group of people, I jump down into the street if it's a safe enough spot to do so, or, heaven forbid, I slow down. I'd rather have some pedestrians pissed at me for 5 seconds than risk getting obliterated by a car or a truck or a bus.

EDIT:

I should clarify. NO, I do not suggest designating the sidewalks as bike lanes. I suggest that sidewalks be used by people on bikes, like they always have been meant to be anywhere else I've ever lived in my life, and in areas of the city that are ACTUALLY pedestrian heavy enough to require an actual, segregated, protected bike lane, that they be put in in those locations. We shouldn't be putting the stupid little sticks up all over the City to accommodate bikers that are either too stupid or too arrogant to ride their bikes safely, while simultaneously being too whiny to be ignored about how stupid they are.

We shouldn't be putting the stupid little sticks up all over the City to accommodate bikers that are either too stupid or too arrogant to ride their bikes safely

The only one here being arrogant and unsafe is you. Bicycles on sidewalks are against the law, and for good reason. We can debate the merits of where protected lanes make best sense, but suggesting that curb hopping should become a standard and encouraged practice is foolish.